For the bistro fibre optics were used to provide a night sky effect, and neon lighting was used in the coves. “It’s a blending of different colours, orangey and coral for the twilight and then there is a deep night sky effect,” Lambert explains.
The lighting changes according to real time – as the sun sets outside, this effect is mirrored inside. “People do sit up and look and the Southern Cross and Orion’s belt have been recognised, it’s not just random points,” she adds. “It provides a skylight effect to go with the expanse of glass windows.”
Because of its multi-function aspect, different effects were required for the Sports Book. “The challenge for us was to find different solutions so the one space could have a number of different functions and appearances,” Lambert says. “There are coloured moving robotic lights for when it’s a dancefloor type setting.
“We also put in a fibre optic sky as in the bistro. It’s quite high over the dance floor - up to around 5m, and we also put crystals there, so the points of light weren’t always at ceiling level. Sometimes they were a little bit below, showing a halo behind them. We tried to get depth into the ceiling plane by doing that and it worked quite nicely. I think as far as fibre optics night skies go, this was a really successful installation.”
Unlike the bistro section, the Sports Book is a totally enclosed space - there are no windows, so there is a need to always create an environment as there is no daylight coming in.
The city skyline also features in this part of the club, which again uses different colours of neon which are blended to get the twilight effect, from ambers, then into deep blues towards midnight blue. The effect is made even more dramatic as it wraps the whole of one wall.
“We tried to recreate through lighting in the equipment we used and the way it was arranged the images you might see if you were at a sporting event,” Lambert explains. “There’s a grandstand on one of the walls, so we used floodlights because that’s what you would find in a grandstand. And where the gaming machines are we used lights that resembled the floodlighting you would find in an open race track environment. We also used pole mounted floodlighting with horse racing imagery.”
Continuous neon tubes running side by side on a dimmer then blended were used to get these effects. “The system is fully automated,” Lambert points out. “Everything was installed and set - there is a time clock and daylight savings built in, so it’s very low maintenance. Although the control system is simple enough to be operated by staff, it is installed in the back areas so it wouldn’t be played with and runs by itself. There’s no need for experts to go in and do any programming.”
The effects may be spectacular but they have been achieved using very standard equipment such as the neon. “If there are any problems with neon once it’s installed, they usually show up early on and if there is no problem after the defects period of a year, the lights will usually run for about nine or 10 years,” Lambert says.
However, there are some considerations to be aware of when using coloured lighting in this type of project, she warns. “With restaurants you have to be careful with colour so it’s not going to affect the appearance of food. I wouldn’t’ think of using green anywhere in a restaurant as it would make the food look pretty revolting.”
“With this project we have used downlighting and low level table lights that give more of a restaurant feel. We also used small light sources in the ceiling to keep it special whereas in other parts of the club adjacent spaces have very large aperture lights.
“We have some pendants along the windows to keep the light level low and over the table. You have to be careful with the amount of light and make sure you put it where it’s required, such as transition areas between levels.”
As far as cost goes, Lambert says that while the robotic lights are not cheap, not many are needed. The same goes for the fibre optics. For the most part, standard lighting can be used in different ways to create a highly dramatic atmosphere. “In this project we used two rows of neon. With neon you get a big effect for little outlay,” she says.
Source: Building Products News.